The front and rear ends of an automobile are each provided with a bumper for reducing the impact when the automobile is hit from the front or behind. Typically, a bumper comprises a bumper face made of synthetic resin material, a bumper beam for distributing the load from the impacts applied to the bumper face and reinforcing the bumper, an absorber member interposed between the bumper face and the bumper beam for absorbing the impacts applied to the bumper face, and a pair of bumper stays which secure the bumper beam to the vehicle body. A conventional bumper stay structure is illustrated in FIG. 3 in a simplified manner.
According to this conventional bumper structure, because the area of contact between the bumper stay 32 and the bumper beam 33 is solely provided by the flanges 34 provided in the bumper stay 32, a substantial load concentrates on these flanges 34 when an impact is applied to the bumper beam 33 as indicated by the arrow. Therefore, according to this conventional structure, it is necessary to reinforce the bumper stay 32 by using reinforcing members having complicated shapes and/or to increase the size of the flanges. In either case, the bumper stay tends to be unacceptably complex and bulky, and the fabrication process becomes highly complicated.